Sunday, 5 December 2010

ELF 32 Piece Eyeshadow Palette Review

You may well remember that in my Christmas Gift post, I mentioned how much I loved this 32 Piece Eyeshadow palette from ELF! Well finally I'm bringing you my little review. I picked up this palette a couple of weeks ago when ELF were offering it free with orders over £10, and I have to say I am so glad that I did!

I'd been looking at buying myself either this or the 100 piece palette to feed my ever growing ELF obsession (and my other ever growing palette obsession) so it was a massive bonus to be able to get it for free (in case you're wondering what else I picked up, I promise I'll be reviewing those too in the next couple of days so keep an eye open!). However, one thing I'd been worried about was that the quality of this palette wouldn't be great - I think I'd managed to convince myself it was a bit like those palettes that you find in really cheap dodgy makeup shops/market stalls. So, was I right?

Errrr, no! Of course I wasn't! If there's one thing I've learnt about ELF, it's that although their prices are tiny, it is very rare for them to compromise on quality. This palette is nicely made, and the shadows are smooth and creamy with good colour payoff. There's a fab range of finishes as well (which I hope you can see in the photo above) - shimmers, glitters and mattes. The thing that's really impressed me is that the glitters still have a good amount of pigmentation and aren't just chunks of silver to get stuck in your eye (I'm looking at you Urban Decay Midnight Cowboy!). This palette also has a wonderful (and more importantly), wearable range of colours with a good amount of neutrals, some gorgeous greens and blues, some very sultry colours for a fab smokey eye and a few brighter colours for a bit of excitement!

Of course all this chattering is well and good, but I know what you're all waiting for - swatches! First though, lets have a look at the colours a bit closure up in the pan:

Pretty huh? I have to say my favourites are all in the picture second from last - look at those pretty greens! Ooo and a gunmetal grey! Yummy :) Ok, I'll stop teasing you now - here's the swatches:

This is the top two rows shot in natural daylight - hopefully you can see the range of tones, shades and finishes. :) So many of these shades remind me of the Urban Decay Naked Palette so if you missed out on that, or felt it was maybe a little too pricey, maybe this is the palette for you!

And finally, the bottom two rows, also shot in natural daylight. Love colours 1 and 3 on the second row - look how vibrant they are! Beautiful.

All in all, I would strongly recommend picking up this palette. As far as I know, they're limited edition for the Christmas season, so get it while you can! You can get it from the ELF website for a mere £9 (or maybe splash out and go for the 100 palette that I'm lusting over for a mere £15)

What do you think ladies? Have you got this palette? Will you be buying it before it's gone?

I really wish I wasn't on P5P when e.l.f were offering this as a freebie! I find e.l.f hit and miss with their shadows but I received a free palette last year with an order and it made my YEAR. The pigmentation in 6/8 of the shadows is fantastic! I suppose if I had actually purchased it, I may think differently though. Plus I'm really funny about mixing powder and cream products in one palette so it's probably not something I'd have bought anyway, but very happy to have received it.

Wow, I had this on the same promotion and its been sitting my drawer for a month but now I think I might pull it out and work on a look with it, like you I just thought this would have really poor pigmentation.